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Tuesday, January 9, 2018

2018 Travels - Officially On The Road 1/8/18

It’s Monday 1/8 and I have been in sunny San Diego since the end of December. Today rain is coming in for a couple days and tonight will be my first night sleeping in the camper in Arizona.

While at my son’s I have taken care of a few things with my new camper that I didn’t get to do before I left home.

- Polyurethaned cabinets

- Installed trailer hitch step I picked up on way through Tucson at Camping World.

- Washed the solar panel from the road grime

- Reorganized what I brought - seems I will be doing this a few times

- Bought simple digital clock at Walmart for insidevof camper

- Bought dual camper levels to stick on corners of camper

- Realigned camper in truck bed - turn buckets loosened and camper shifted. I’ll have to explain how you do this without jacks.

The drive back out I8 and I10 was a smooth trip and I played around with speed to see how it affects mpg. I’ll be exporting on mpg with my truck/camper too.

With the nearly 7 hour drive and time zone change it was late in the day. I stopped at the water kiosk I use in Tucson, got gas, unsweetened ice tea and went to my parking spot for the night.

I spent the evening texting friends that are at the RTR or headed that way for the gathering in Quartzsite that starts Wednesday.

This will be my 3rd attending this event and each year it has grown. Early reports From Quartzsite indicate that there are a lot of people already there.

For more information about the RTR go to www.cheaprvlivibg.con/gatherings.

First night in the camper.

I made rice to add with some meat for dinner, cooking using my single burner butane stove. With the warmth of the day still around, I left the entrance door open and just opened the vent in the ceiling.

After I made hot water for my hot water thermos and did some organizing of cooking items.

Where I park I can put up my pop up camper top. So my first night was sleeping on the large bed over the truck cab.. it is the size of a double bed and it’s easy to get up and down stepping on the lower seat cabinets.

It was a mild night in the 50’s and it was plenty warm in the bed without heat.

There are certainly positives to the camper and let’s not forget the not so good things, but my first night went well with many more to go.

About Me

I retired from as
Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director for the Town of Westminster in
2014.Growing up I became an on-call
firefighter and continued in the Fire Department while I kept a full-time
career in high tech, eventually becoming the full-time Fire Chief in 1998, with
the downturn in the tech sector.

I have been
fortunate to have had many wonderful experiences working in the private sector
before my full-time employment before becoming Fire Chief/EMD. This
included being an Electronic Technician, and Manufacturing engineer for Bowmar/ALI,
Inc. Leominster/Acton MA, National Service Manager for Bruel and Kjaer
Instruments, Inc., Marlborough, MA, and Engineering Coordinator,
Manufacturing Project Manager, Group Manager, and Program Manager for Digital
Equipment Corporation/Compaq Computer Corporation, various locations in MA&
NH.

I continue to
teach Fire Science Degree Programs at Mount Wachusett Community College,
Gardner, MA, where I have been an Adjunct Professor since 2000.

I have received
degrees at the following institutions:

Lesley College; Masters of
Science in Management, January 1984

Fitchburg State College; Bachelor of Science in History, June 1979

Mount
Wachusett Community College; Associate in Electronic Engineering, June 1977.